According to the research from Collinson, travellers are more likely to spend their hard-earned money at the airport if their experience is right. The international findings show that in order to increase passenger dwell time and spend, airports and their ecosystem of travel-related businesses and brands must make traveller across the entire journey – a paramount concern.
Collinson’s ‘Airport Journey’ global report surveyed 6,667 people across 11 countries in the Americas, EMEA and APAC to track evolving traveller preferences and behaviours and learn more about travellers’ satisfaction with the airport experience.
The research found that overall, traveller satisfaction with the airport experience is on the rise. In 2019, 63% of global travellers say they enjoy the airport experience, a jump of 13 percentage points from 2018 when only 50% of travellers said the same.
However, there is a significant gulf between traveller satisfaction in Asia and the Middle East, compared to the US and Europe. On average, three in four travellers (74%) across markets like India, China and the UAE enjoy the airport experience, compared to less than half (48%) across markets like the US, the UK and Germany.
The polarisation in airport experience should concern airports and their ecosystem of businesses, because the research also found that happy travellers spend more. Nearly nine in 10 (88%) travellers who routinely spend over USD 200 at the airport say the airport experience is an enjoyable part of the journey.
On the other hand, the least satisfied travellers are also the ones who spend less than USD 28, amongst whom only 40% say they enjoy the airport experience.
Mignon Buckingham, corporate strategy officer of Collinson said: “The airport experience relies on an ecosystem of players, including airlines, airport authorities, security and operational service providers. Dissatisfaction at any point of the airport journey can trigger a loss in overall satisfaction and have a knock-on impact for all other players.”
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